Royston Maldoom, (born 1943) is a British choreographer whose works, including ''Adagietto'' and ''Ursprung'', have been performed for various dance companies, such as
The Jefferson Dancers and
Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Dance, choreography and community dance
Royston Maldoom's career as a choreographer began in 1972 when he received a major Gulbenkian Foundation award for his work in a Royal Ballet workshop, he had previously been studying dance with
Hilde Holger. Since then he has created works for companies in Britain and abroad, including
Dance Theatre of Harlem (New York), 'Atlanta Contemporary Dance Company' (Georgia USA), 'Ballet San Marcos' (Peru), 'Northern Ballet Theatre' (Manchester UK), 'EMMA Dance Company' (Leicestershire UK),
Scottish Ballet (Glasgow UK) for whom, in collaboration with
Graham Bowers, he created 'Ursprung'.
In 1975 his small group, 'Mercury Dance Company', won first prize at the 7th International Choreographic Competition at Bagnolet in Paris, and was subsequently awarded the 'Foundation of France' prize for choreographer and company.
Maldoom was appointed 'Dance Artist in Residence' jointly by Fife and Tayside Regional Councils in January 1981. The year's residency with financial support from the
Scottish Arts Council, was the first of its kind to cover an area rather than a single institution, and through his unique and unconventional approach to dance successfully encouraged participation and interest in dance within communities, with performance workshops and classes, on a scale not seen before.
He was responsible with others in forming
Dundee Repertory Dance Theatre and in his role as Artistic Director, established a solid, successful and ongoing base for professional contemporary dance in Scotland. He also maintained his commitment to community dance by setting up annual summer projects, where people within the community regardless of age and experience, could participate in a work that culminated in a performance to commissioned music and stage design at a professional venue. One such work was ‘Bivouac’ where
Gordon McPherson
Gordon McPherson (born 1965) is a Scottish composer.
McPherson was born in Dundee. He studied at the University of York, England, returning there for his doctorate, continuing with post-doctoral research at the Royal Northern College of Music ...
wrote the musical score and
Graham Bowers designed the costumes and stage set. The company was renamed several years later and adopted the name
Scottish Dance Theatre, after the closure of
Peter Royston's original company of the same name.
In a projects with the
Berlin Philharmonic in the first season of
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...
as chief conductor, he trained 250 children from public schools Stravinsky's ''
Le Sacre du printemps''. It was performed in January 2003, and documented in ''
Rhythm Is It!
''Rhythm Is It!'' is a 2004 German documentary film directed by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch. The film documents a project undertaken by conductor Simon Rattle and choreographer Royston Maldoom to stage a performance of Stravinsky's ...
''.
He also came to NYC in 2007 and worked with four inner city schools to reproduce the Rite of Spring dance with the Berlin Philharmonic. (Twelve students from PS 161 in West Harlem as well as two Harlem high schools & six students from an elementary school were the dance performers.)
Dance United
In 1996, Dance United founders Andrew Coggins, Mags Byrne and Royston Maldoom, together with the Ethiopian Gemini Trust, created a unique dance project in Addis Ababa with street children which led to the foundation of the Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company. In 2000,
Dance United Dance United is a non-profit organisation with projects in Ethiopia, Central London, Wessex and Yorkshire. Youths marginalised in society participate in intensive contemporary dance training, which in turn offers them educational qualifications and ...
was officially established.
Trained intensively over many years in Addis Ababa by dance artists from all over the world, eighteen young Ethiopian dancers graduated in 2002 with accreditation from Middlesex University (UK). In 2004, Junaid Jemal Sendi won the international Rolex Young Choreographer award, the first ever African artist to win this prestigious accolade. Junaid and fellow Adugna dancer, Addisu Demissie, also played key roles in Dance United's DESTINO at Sadler's Wells in 2009.
Books
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References
Further reading
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External links
Maldoom's Profile on Dance United WebsiteDance: Royston Maldoom's Overture 2012, Royal Albert Hall, LondonINTERVIEW: Royston Maldoom
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maldoom, Royston
English choreographers
British women choreographers
Ballet choreographers
People from Harrow, London
1943 births
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire